Professional Practice - Procurement Report - Assessment Answer

Professional Practice Assignment

Assignment Task

This 2000 word report should describe and analyse the positive and negative aspects of three different procurement methods for construction projects. Benefits and problems for the client/developer, the consultants, the builders, the subcontractors and the end-users should all be considered.

The report must be divided into subsections and must be provided with an executive summary of one paragraph, a contents page at the beginning as well as page numbers. Referencing should conform to the Harvard system. You are advised to consult the electronic journals available in the library for reference sources.

The report should describe the characteristics of the three contrasting procurement systems which you have selected. You should express an opinion about the kinds of projects which are suited to the different procurement methods. Remember that you have ethical obligations when recommending a course of action to a potential client. Support your opinions with high quality references.

NOTE: If this assignment is not suitable for students who are completing various Engineering key programs, please contact Mary Hardie for an alternative equivalent assignment.

Research Question: "To Be Successful In A Global Environment, International Experiences Outside The Organization Is Critical. "

With the explosion of internet and invention of high technology in the 21st century, many organizations have become globally recognized. Most of them are represented worldwide and offer their services in different countries which are attributed to the availability of technology. For any organization to compete with others in the global environment, it is paramount that they have competent global leaders who have the skills to represent the organization internationally. They will also introduce effective strategies for the organization to always remain on top of their competitors. In their journal Caligiuri & Tarique (2012) stated that for any firm to remain visible globally, bridging the gap for global skills is the most significant efforts to ensure that the organizations deploy global leaders who are competitive.

To become a successful global leader there are skills and competencies they should acquire which can be obtained by introduction of global leadership programs to the employees. Some of the competencies that they should have include. Cross-cultural competencies which are all about learning how to adapt to different cultures and understand people from diverse cultural backgrounds (Spotts, 2015). The other competence is a personal characteristic which is all about the inner qualities of a leader or their personality. In this essay, the thesis statement is that for one to be a competent global leader, they should have the experience to deal with clients globally. The essay is going to use the example of Sony which is an organization based in Japan but has flourished more in the USA and it is an employer of thousands of workers from the region and Japan.

I agree with this statement as having such global leaders it means an organization becoming more visible and competent in a global environment. If the employees are trained to have cultural flexibility which is a categorized as a dynamic competency and it's defined by Dolan & Kawamura (2015), as the ability to execute activities that are enjoyed in an employee’s country with different and unique activities from another country. Research by Marquardt, & Berger, (2000), indicates that being flexible culturally boosts the self-esteem and confidence of such a leader can easily adapt to foreign environments meaning that foreign assignments given to them are successful. If they have such a competence, it means they can become effective global leaders, especially when working internationally for a long time especially those at Sony working from the USA. If they are trained on how to be flexible, they can comfortably change their style of doing things while not in their home country and doing it in a culturally different style. This is the most important experience for the employees who go on business trips regularly in different countries.

Tolerance for ambiguity is a competence that should be present by employees working in global environments and it helps them become stronger and adapt to new environments soon. Such people can handle stressful situations in a good way as they have the ability to deal with ambiguous situations especially when doing foreign assignments. Research indicates that such leaders are able to make the organizations they work for deal with the complex global economy as they are equipped for that ( Caligiuri & Tarique, 2012).

Training global leaders to appreciate and value other people’s culture is an important competent which makes a leader have a great experience in a global environment. This means that the leader is able to accept and respect the norms and values especially in a foreign environment. If a person can comfortably interact, adjust and perform whenever given international assignments .A global leader who lacks ethnocentrism is able to handle clients, subordinates, and co-workers in a good way and thus can maintain a good relationship with them. In Sony Corporation, for example, the managers are able to maintain a good relationship with their clients, subordinates, and colleagues due to the procession of this competency which has facilitated continued success of this corporation. According to Clark (2015), "a global business requires collaboration and coordination with people from different cultures thus the leaders should value the cultural diversity and differences of other people."

In a global environment, having the ability to be creative and having knowledge and understanding of other people’s culture is very important. It can be done by participating in international volunteerism, going to study in foreign countries or being raised in households with different cultures. If an employee seeks to learn various cultures and their values and norms for professional development, it means they become more experienced. This can have a positive impact especially for global organizations like Sony because they operate in a place with a different culture from the one in Japan. It helps them manage to be the best manufacturers and suppliers of electric equipment. The implication of having this is that the organization is always in a good position to beat its competitors and also increase its productivity (Dola & Kawamura, 2015).

According to the theory of social learning, people learn by interacting with their environment. This happens when newly appointed global leaders are allowed to practice new behaviors on projects in foreign environments with new cultures, where they can get feedback or the environment has few risks involved and can make mistakes (Daft, 2008). With this, it is clear that if such people are allowed to practice what they learned recently, then they gain more experience and it puts the organization in a better position to gain a good reputation for having experienced global leaders. Sony Corporation has managed to compete with other international organizations for many years because it has employees with good experience in global leadership.

Having the experience of attracting potential clients and attracting new ones is important for any global organization. If the leaders are social, talkative and seek activities that are social, then they can be in a position to deal with a great number of people from different countries. With such leaders, it is easy to increase the productivity as they are able to handle the clients as well as the staff under them as they understand their norms and values. Most managers in Sony Corporation are from Japan but the subordinate staff and clients are from the USA. This company has managed to retain many clients for a long period of time and cases like staff turnover are very rare. This implies that the managers have the necessary competence to get along with the clients and employees which have made the firm more competitive in the global world which is very sensitive and difficult thing to do (Clark, 2015).

Conclusions

This essay has clearly indicated that if the employees want to represent the organization they work for globally, then it is important to be experienced and have the competencies discussed. In a global environment, the relationship between the client and the organization is very important and that is why the paper mostly focused on the aspect having the cross- cultural competency (Caligiuri & Tarique, 2012).Having the experience brings such an organization benefits like increased productivity, new strategies to deal with competitors, a good reputation and a good relationship between the management and staff which reduces cases of strikes. This explains why Sony has managed to operate globally for long and to maintain high productivity.